diff --git a/nnunetv2/preprocessing/cropping/cropping.py b/nnunetv2/preprocessing/cropping/cropping.py
index 96fe7b7db..354f3d3bf 100644
--- a/nnunetv2/preprocessing/cropping/cropping.py
+++ b/nnunetv2/preprocessing/cropping/cropping.py
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import numpy as np
-
+from scipy.ndimage import binary_fill_holes
 
 # Hello! crop_to_nonzero is the function you are looking for. Ignore the rest.
 from acvl_utils.cropping_and_padding.bounding_boxes import get_bbox_from_mask, crop_to_bbox, bounding_box_to_slice
@@ -11,14 +11,11 @@ def create_nonzero_mask(data):
     :param data:
     :return: the mask is True where the data is nonzero
     """
-    from scipy.ndimage import binary_fill_holes
     assert data.ndim in (3, 4), "data must have shape (C, X, Y, Z) or shape (C, X, Y)"
-    nonzero_mask = np.zeros(data.shape[1:], dtype=bool)
-    for c in range(data.shape[0]):
-        this_mask = data[c] != 0
-        nonzero_mask = nonzero_mask | this_mask
-    nonzero_mask = binary_fill_holes(nonzero_mask)
-    return nonzero_mask
+    nonzero_mask = data[0] != 0
+    for c in range(1, data.shape[0]):
+        nonzero_mask |= data[c] != 0
+    return binary_fill_holes(nonzero_mask)
 
 
 def crop_to_nonzero(data, seg=None, nonzero_label=-1):
@@ -31,21 +28,16 @@ def crop_to_nonzero(data, seg=None, nonzero_label=-1):
     """
     nonzero_mask = create_nonzero_mask(data)
     bbox = get_bbox_from_mask(nonzero_mask)
-
     slicer = bounding_box_to_slice(bbox)
-    data = data[tuple([slice(None), *slicer])]
-
-    if seg is not None:
-        seg = seg[tuple([slice(None), *slicer])]
-
     nonzero_mask = nonzero_mask[slicer][None]
+    
+    slicer = (slice(None), ) + slicer
+    data = data[slicer]
     if seg is not None:
+        seg = seg[slicer]
         seg[(seg == 0) & (~nonzero_mask)] = nonzero_label
     else:
-        nonzero_mask = nonzero_mask.astype(np.int8)
-        nonzero_mask[nonzero_mask == 0] = nonzero_label
-        nonzero_mask[nonzero_mask > 0] = 0
-        seg = nonzero_mask
+        seg = np.where(nonzero_mask, np.int8(0), np.int8(nonzero_label))
     return data, seg, bbox